Preparing for his last shot, Wang suddenly found his blood sugar levels dip and his legs began to wobble, but he still managed to fire before collapsing to the floor unconscious. Wang won two Olympic golds, three silvers and one bronze over the years, but none was more dramatic than his second-placed finish in the 10m Air Pistol final at Atlanta in 1996. If Li seeks inspiration, she need look no further than her coach Wang, China’s most experienced Olympian with six successive appearances between 19. “I am not nervous because for me, every second is a bonus after my boy was born. “Li is the best, so it will be good to push her on her home soil,” the Athens silver-medalist said. Li’s toughest rival in the 10m event will be Galkina, the 35-year-old Russian who renews her Athens battle with the Chinese following the birth of a son in November. Li surprised Wang by adding the 50m Rifle 3 positions event to her shooting skills and beating Pfeilschifter to the gold at the World Cup in Beijing in April. It prompted legendary Chinese coach Wang Yifu to say: “Pfeilschifter is better than anybody else, including Du.” Her world record of 504.9 points was equaled in April by Czech Katerina Emmons before Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter bettered it by 0.1 at the Milan World Cup in June. Li may be the reigning Olympic and world champion, but has struggled in recent months to raise prospects of a keen fight for gold at the Beijing Shooting Hall. Li’s appeal to the public to calm down follows the experience of team-mate Zhao Yinghui, who was the gold medal favorite at Athens but crumbled under intense pressure and failed to reach the podium.
“A bit of battle does exist, because the first gold medal means so much for our people.” “It is going to be a very interesting competition,” China’s weightlifting chief Ma Wenguang said. China’s millions are awaiting aoyun shoujin - the first Olympic gold - as if it was a competition in its own right.